R5: Climate Adaptation Is Justice: Caring for Europe’s Inland Territories

Hope is green — but hope alone will not hold back floodwaters, stop megafires,
or prevent hillsides from collapsing.

Across Europe, especially in the Mediterranean basin, the climate crisis is no
longer a warning but a lived reality. The 1.5°C objective is slipping out of
reach. Emissions continue to rise, fossil fuel expansion persists, and political
courage remains insufficient.

From floods in Valencia to landslides in Sicily and megafires across Southern
and Central Europe, the pattern is clear. Climate impacts are intensifying and
unevenly distributed. Inland, mountainous, and rural territories — often
politically invisible — are on the frontline.

These regions are already strained by austerity, depopulation, and extractivist
land use. Small farmers, forest workers, and elderly populations are paying the
highest price for a crisis they did not create. Where infrastructure is fragile
and public services weakened, climate breakdown becomes a multiplier of
injustice.

Climate adaptation is therefore not a technical adjustment, but a matter of
justice. Mitigation remains essential, but it will not protect communities
already facing irreversible impacts. Adaptation must become a central political
priority, rooted in care, solidarity, and structural transformation. This crisis
is not only environmental but systemic. It is rooted in capitalism, which is
inherently structured around extractivism, where ecosystems are treated as
infinite resources to be exploited in the pursuit of continuous growth. Such a
model reinforces territorial and class inequalities, and undermines the
resilience of the very systems on which it relies on.

Addressing this crisis requires a systemic transformation and a shift towards
approaches that overcome this perpetual growth, such as the doughnut economy,
which understands and prioritises ecological limits, redistribution and
collective well-being over accumulation and profit

Europe’s inland territories are not spaces to abandon or exploit — they are
essential socio-ecological infrastructures that require Care.

Inland areas sustain biodiversity and provide vital ecosystem services: water
regulation, soil regeneration, pollination, climate regulation, and protection
against extreme events. Their resilience is directly linked to that of the
entire continent.

Yet these systems are under growing pressure. Rising temperatures, prolonged
droughts, and extreme events interact with habitat fragmentation and resource
overexploitation. Ecosystems are weakening as socio-economic vulnerabilities
deepen.

Fragile systems also mean rising tensions, including conflicts between human
activities and wildlife. These conflicts reflect policy failures — lack of
coordination, scientific grounding, and community participation — not ecological
imbalance.

Inland territories must be recognised as both vulnerable spaces and strategic
laboratories for ecocentric adaptation. Healthy ecosystems, ecological
connectivity, and resilient agroecological systems are among the most effective
defenses against climate impacts.

Adaptation cannot be reduced to technological fixes or urban-centric policies.
It must be grounded in the care of socio-ecological systems and the
interdependence between communities and their environments.

Agriculture is central to this vision as a foundational socio-ecological
infrastructure. Caring for agricultural systems means recognising soil as a
common good. Soil degradation, erosion, and loss of organic matter are reducing
the capacity of land to retain water and withstand shocks, while monocultures
increase vulnerability.

A transition toward agroecological practices is essential: crop diversification,
soil restoration, improved water retention, and reduced dependence on
unsustainable irrigation. Farmers must be supported in adapting to climate
change, including through resilient crop varieties.

Rural landscapes are also protective infrastructures. Hedges, terraces,
woodlands, and small water networks are essential defenses against
hydrogeological instability, desertification, and biodiversity loss.

Without a public strategy centered on care, inland territories risk losing not
only economic viability, but also identity, cohesion, and future prospects. A
different path exists: one of Care, where these areas become laboratories of
socio-ecological adaptation and collective well-being.

We call on European institutions to recognise the central role of inland
territories in the climate transition and adopt a justice-driven approach to
adaptation based on care, resilience, and participation.

We therefore demand:

Adaptation is not optional. It is the ground on which climate justice will
either stand or fail. To care for inland territories is to care for Europe’s
future — without this shift, we will remain trapped in permanent emergency,
reacting to crises instead of preventing them.